Raven
"What are you doing here, Raven?"
"Leave!" Lilian, my sister, snapped in anger, gripping the dueling stick tightly as if she were ready to strike. My blood boiled. I was a year older than her—she had no right to speak to me this way.
"W-why? There's no rule that says I can't watch!" I stammered, folding in on myself as I felt the eyes of everyone at the dueling range gradually shift toward me. Their gazes burned hotter than fire, more judgmental than I'd ever felt before.
"You can't fight! You are weak! Is your presence supposed to add something to the air?" Lilian gestured sharply around her, irritation dripping from every word. My pulse quickened, anger sparking in me, but I refused to give her the satisfaction of seeing it.
I barely left the house, and whenever I did, it was followed by warnings not to stray too far, as if I were a fragile bird that could shatter at the slightest touch.
"I can watch! I'll stay by the side and—" I began, only to be cut off.
"No! You cannot! It's not like you can learn anything by watching!" she hissed.
"Leave, Raven! You'll just distract us!" she fumed, her brown eyes flashing with fury. I tried to meet her gaze, to stand my ground, but the stares of the onlookers weighed heavily on my shoulders, pressing me down as if I were nothing more than air.
I began to fidget with my hands, biting my lips—a nasty habit I hated but could never seem to stop—as I turned to leave.
"That's a few minutes we could have spent on better things," someone muttered behind me.
"It's not like she can even fight! All she has is that beautiful face!" another jeered, and I felt my stomach drop as I hurried away, desperate to put distance between myself and the cruel whispers.
The pack's territory was large, lined with houses on either side of the street, stalls in the market area, and the healer's house tucked in the corner. It looked like a quaint, small town, but I had no desire to return home and be confined to my four walls. Instead, I headed toward the forest.
Tears streamed down my face as I wiped them with the long sleeves of my grey dress. The scorn leveled at me broke me more than I thought possible. I ran, muttering under my breath, hating that I couldn't even shift—couldn't even defend myself.
"I'm weak…useless…" I whispered, my voice trembling as I ran faster, my legs pounding against the earth. I was supposed to take a right turn toward my secret hideout by the small river, a sanctuary where I often went to be alone. But anger clouded my mind, and instead, I veered left, deeper into the unknown forest.
Compared to the others, Lilian could be considered merciful. Father insisted I didn't exist, and Mother was no better. My two brothers looked at me with nothing but disgust, as if my very presence irritated them.
I ran faster, ignoring the bruises forming on my arms, the tears soaking my dress, and the scratches tearing through the fabric. At that moment, I made a decision: I would run away and never return.
I'll become a rogue! I thought, a small spark of relief warming me. If my family didn't want me, surely some other pack would. The only thing I felt confident about was my own beauty.
I ran until my lungs burned and my legs screamed for relief. My dress clung to me, heavy with sweat, and dripping down my back. Finally, I stumbled to a stop among the trees, my chest heaving. Panic began to swell. I had never been outside the pack before. The forest stretched endlessly around me, thick and shadowed, and the isolation terrified me.
My heart raced faster as I turned to leave, only to hear a sharp, sinister crack—like a twig snapping under heavy weight.
I jerked around, only to fall backward onto my butt as my entire body shook. A few paces away, towering above me, was a black werewolf. Its golden eyes gleamed like molten metal, and I froze, terror rooting me to the ground.
"Gah!" it growled. My mouth opened in a scream, but my body refused to move. Werewolves could smell fear, and mine leaked out in every tremor and shiver.
"I…I…" My lips trembled as I tried to speak, "I'm a friend…" But before I could finish, the beast leapt, claws raking across my shoulder, drawing blood. I screamed, the pain sharp and immediate, as I was pinned to the forest floor under its weight.
Through the blur of terror, I saw it shift. Its fur receded, its body twisting and stretching, and before me stood a man—huge, muscular, and impossibly striking. Red, flaming hair fell around his shoulders, and his face was devastatingly handsome. My heart stuttered as my gaze involuntarily traveled upwards as I continued to lie on the floor with him hovering over me.
I froze in shock, utterly helpless, as I realized he was completely naked. My cheeks burned, and my stomach twisted into knots as my mind struggled to process the impossible.
I had never seen a naked man before, not even in the pack as none willingly transformed in front of me.
He began to speak yet my heart thumped harder as my mouth fell open and I stared at what dangled between his legs and stared back.
"Rogue wolves are to be killed," he growled, voice low and dangerous, a subtle snarl vibrating through each word. "You, on the other hand, smell…divine."
Even as I tried to understand what he meant, fear and confusion warred inside me and took over. The last image that imprinted on my mind before darkness claimed me was him bending himself lower to his face baring his teeth enough to see his fangs.
'He's going to eat me."
My body went limp, my vision swimming as I fainted, the forest and the golden-eyed man the last things I saw before everything dissolved into black.